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By Benita M. Dodd
Given the state’s progress since Georgia’s first charter school was approved 20 years ago, it would seem unnecessary to have to remind policymakers and parents of the importance of choices in education.
With the turnover under the Gold Dome, however, policymakers risk losing the lessons learned – the hard-won institutional knowledge – that reinforce the need for choice for Georgia’s families. In November’s elections, Democrats took 14 seats held by Republican legislators, shrinking the GOP majority. Republicans picked up three, giving the Democrats a net gain of 11.
Those numbers, of course, are not as important as the fact there are more novice legislators and, with the antagonism toward choice displayed by many Democrats, likely more…
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It’s Friday!Quotes of Note
“Each of us can be happier, and America will start to heal, when we become the kind neighbors and generous friends we wish we had.” – Arthur Brooks
“Federal power is increasingly based on the power of the purse and regulation. While the number of federal employees has not grown rapidly in recent years, the share of government spending controlled by the federal government – but often distributed through states and localities – has risen from 3 percent of GDP in 1900 to almost 22 percent in 2016. Every decade has brought more regulations, more agencies and departments, and more expansions of federal authority.” – Joel Kotkin, “Restoring Localism”
EventsJanuary 22, 2019:…
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EventsJanuary 22, 2019: “National School Choice Week: A Capitol Choice,” is a noon Policy Briefing Luncheon on Tuesday, January 22, in the Empire Room, 20th floor, Sloppy Floyd Building in Atlanta. Speakers are Dr. Ashley Berner, deputy director at the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Education Policy, and Georgia Public Policy Foundation Senior Fellow Dr. Ben Scafidi, professor of economics at Kennesaw State University. $35. Early Bird Registration is $25 through December 31. Find more information and registration here.
It’s Friday!Quotes of note
“Most people will tell you the secret to unity is to disagree less. If we ignore our partisan differences or just get everyone to agree, the thinking goes, our country will eventually improve. However,…
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By Pat Stansbury
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a date which will live infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt
It was a quiet Sunday morning in beautiful Oahu, Hawaii. Without warning, the peaceful residents in paradise awakened in shock and terror as all hell broke loose around them.
The first wave began at 7:53 a.m. with Japan’s order to attack. By 8 a.m., the majority of U.S. fighter planes were destroyed. Torpedo attacks lasted 11 minutes, followed by bombers that attacked the USS Arizona’s magazine, causing devastating explosions.
The second wave came at 8:40 a.m. Another 167 enemy aircraft attacked.…
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It’s Friday!This week was Giving Tuesday. Thank you to those who supported Benita Dodd’s special one-day fundraiser for the Foundation; about $6,000 was raised! As promised, the money raised will help fund the Foundation’s opportunity initiatives.
Quotes of note
“The opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves, in their own sphere of action, but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch.” – Thomas Jefferson (1804)
“Back in 1987, then-Secretary of Education William Bennett argued that ‘increases in financial aid in recent years have enabled colleges and universities blithely to raise their tuitions, confident that Federal…
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By Jen Sidorova
Georgia’s students deserve fiscally responsible public education management, but chronic underfunding of teachers’ pensions is putting that at risk. Over the past three years alone, legislators had to reroute over $600 million away from other budget priorities to make additional payments into the state’s retirement system for teachers.
As of today, public education employees have been promised $25 billion more in pension benefits than Georgia is expected to have available to fully pay its obligations. Each year, a certain amount of money needs to be contributed to the pension fund in order to pay promised benefits. The required contributions has been steadily increasing – reaching 21 percent of total payroll as budgeted for 2020 – escalating the…
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It’s Friday!Condolences: We were saddened to hear of the passing this week of former Congressman Mac Collins at age 74. Collins represented a Macon-based U.S. House district from 1992 until 2004. He stepped down to run for Zell Miller’s old U.S. Senate seat, a contest he lost in the GOP primary to Johnny Isakson. Our sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.
Quotes of note
“From a free-market perspective, the consequences of licensure requirements for ridesharing are little different than similar requirements for barbers, cosmetologists, taxidermists, food truck operators, florists and numerous other occupations. These permission-to-work laws hurt not only consumers but also aspiring entrepreneurs with limited access to capital. They harm business creation and employment…
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